Archive for overcoming depression

The Game Of Being Unenlightened

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My words to meditate on for the day … on how we “play the game”. We make the choices and decisions that have us live in confusion, anxiety, depression, insecurity or self loathing. Then we go bounding about the earth with these decisions for how to live our lives affecting the flow of each day. We have the power to alter our course, to view the world differently … to be the author of our own reality. Peace and Love.

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“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.” 

– Thich Nhat Hanh

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“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

– Jesus; the Bible, Luke 10: 38-42

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“If somebody wants to remain unenlightened, it is absolutely his business to decide about it. If they want to play the game of being unenlightened, it’s perfectly okay. If you have become fed up with the world, if you are fed up with your anguish and anxiety and you have realized that now it is time to awake, then there is no difficulty. Nobody can prevent you. Nobody is preventing you. It is only your own decision to play the game as an unenlightened being or to play the game as an enlightened being. It is only a question of inner decision.”

– Osho

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

A Treacherous Path

Fear of Failure … that recurring event that most frequently is far worse than the actual event you feared.  For many, myself included, fear of failure has proven to be a crippling and suffocating force with anaconda-like strength … crushing our wills while making our heart pound, pulse race, and each breath turn shallow and ragged.

Fear of Failure finds its roots in several sources.  The social aspect of it is that we care SO desperately what everyone around us thinks of us … whether they approve of us … that we devote our entire lives to this endless exercise in futility.  Secondly, on the inner level … we have been trained by a lifetime of events to actually believe the worst of ourselves.  When you combine a lack of belief in oneself with an obsessive need for other’s acceptance??  The results range from depression, to social disorders, to ruined homes and families, and even suicide.

Sometimes it seems like there is no end in sight … that the future holds no hope … so why even exert the effort it would take to be successful, when you are only going to be slapped down again?

The answer that I have found is to unplug myself from those sources, and re-plug those energy conduits into Love … into God.  I do this on a meditative level, and visualize this process accordingly.  It takes conscious work to re-train your brain … and even more to re-train the reactive impulses that have come to seem completely natural to you.

In my own life, overcoming this crippling condition began with inner work … creating a place inside of me that I enjoyed being … a place where I loved to be and could reside in quietude; away from my fears and simply at one with God.  Over time this activity began to have physical manifestations.  Suddenly you don’t care quite as much about whether somebody else will reject you, because you find SO much contentment in that beautiful inner world that you share with your Creator.

Once you arrive at that place, then you can begin the work of re-training your habits in how you live life, in your relationships, and ultimately in the things you fear most as well.  You get to the point where you don’t even need to TRY to overcome those fears … because you simply won’t care about them any more.  You will be happy with who you are, and what other’s think or say simply won’t matter any more … because those places will be being filled with fulfilling, unconditional LOVE from the ultimate source.

It’s a long journey and process … but just start with creating a conscious inner space where you give and receive Love … where you commune with God.  If you can do that each and every day … eventually, God will lead you out of the suffocating maelstrom of failure, and the fear of failure.

Do not despair, you are Loved.

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This post was based on meditating on my prior post, “Julia’s Wisdom“.  Pic by Lev Tsimring.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach

re-blogged from: A Treacherous Path

I LOVE YOU

Amanda Sage

Here is a poem I wrote this past month while struggling and grappling with issues that came up from living life. Interestingly, this poem has changed my WHOLE way of meditating each day. Now, after doing my breathing, stretching, grounding, connecting to God and establishing boundaries … I spend time allowing whatever is causing me stress or anxiety in my life to come up. I feel it to its fullest … and then I simply say “I love you.” … just as in this poem. I am very grateful to have received this inspiration as it has improved my well being and life immensely this past month:

I love you.

~

Rising swells

all flecked with fury.

~

I love you.

~

Judgement’s eyes

cast weight on the scales

of my heart.

~

I love you.

~

Friend or foe;

uncertainty’s advance.

~

I love you.

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Ancient wounds prodded

provoking past mistakes.

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I love you.

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Dreamscape carnage

littered with pieces and parts

of who I was

and what I’ve done.

~

I love you.

~

A shuttered heart

defending inner sanctum.

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I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

~

Namaste.

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  • poem written by the author of Religion4All, art by Amanda Sage.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

Southern California, Northern California, Mission ViejoIrvineLos AngelesSan FranciscoMarinSan JoseSan Juan CapistranoSanta AnaPalm SpringsLong Beach